Holidays - Santa rules at Yule!

Hello! I'm going to be showing off some of my favorites today, so several photos will follow. I'll start off with an overview of my Santa tree:

I think I need a bigger artificial tree, as I couldn't put everything on it. 

This is one of my favorite Santa ornaments:

I just love this little guy and his hand-crocheted Santa suit! Purchased for 50c at a garage sale in Stevens Point, WI.

I've made some of the ornaments:

A Santa head residing in a vintage Solo coffee cup holder and decked out with a combination of new and vintage trims. 

In a more Victorian vein, I also crafted the following:

And behind him to the left you can see one of the many Santa ornaments my husband has given me over the years.

Some of my Santas have been made by talented friends:

While other handmade ornaments have been purchased at thrift stores:

I liked the cheerful print of this homey Santa. On either side of him are other thrift store ornaments that are on the slightly-vintage side. 

This small Santa bell had been my mother-in-law's and it's possible it had belonged to her mother:

Moving on, here's the base of the Santa tree and there's a story behind the Christmas tree holder:

The holder looks like a large wooden dollhouse but has an opening on top for a tree (a rather skinny trunk though). My husband's Auntie Mary told me that the "house" dates from the 1930's; a neighbor had made it. It needs some minor repair but does its intended job okay. I'd made the Santas on either side of the so-ugly-it's-funny Made in Japan figure in the middle. 


New to me last year were the following:

Purchased both in thrift stores for a dollar or less. I don't know how old these are - from the 50's or 60's, I suppose. The hanging Santa with the bells says Made in Korea on the back but I couldn't find any country of origin on the reindeer-riding Santa. Love them both!


I don't have a lot of bigger Santas to show off, as I don't have the room for them in our current house. When we moved here we ended up with a house less than half the size of our previous residence. As a result, a lot of stuff had to go, but the following two Santas made the cut:

The Santa on the left with the rather dirty beard (not sure how to clean it) came from a drugstore that was closing in Stevens Point, WI. I think I paid ten dollars for him, which seemed like a lot in 1988, but his value has probably gone up some since then. The other Santa was a gift from my husband from a craft show in Wausau, WI. He saw me admiring it at the show but I was too cheap to buy it for myself, so he bought it for me as a Christmas gift. I love the use of vintage ornaments on this Santa.


From another going-out-of-business sale, I got this nine years ago:

I saw the sale sign at an antiques store near Saugatuck, MI so of course I stopped to check it out. The genial owner told me he was selling off his antiques because he was moving to Florida. I spotted this rather plump, 2' tall Santa and as he was priced at $20.00, I snapped him up. The owner said he'd originally marked that Santa at $150.00, and when it didn't sell he kept marking it down. "But I wasn't worried - I knew he'd find a good home eventually," he added. And that someone was me! I smile every time I unpack this Santa for the holiday, remembering that very nice antiques store man. 

Last but not least I'll leave you with two more Santas that make me smile when I see them:

Not only do I like their faces, but I also like the fact that both were thrift store purchases - 50c for the mug and $1.00 for the pitcher. Both are in fine shape and it was hard to believe that no one in the store at the same time as me hadn't already snatched them up!


Hope you liked seeing my Santas as much as I enjoyed showing them off!